Subject: sickening site

Without a doubt, yours is the most disgusting site I've ever encountered, but no matter. Jesus died for you as well as me and I can only pray you will come to know Him as your Lord and Savior. However, I am curious about what you do in your spare time: you are apparently talented, but remember; All good things come from God. Why not change your site to one that glorifies Him instead of the things you do now?

Rev. Larry Johnson
Hamilton, AL 35570.

Well, quite obviously because I don't look to glorify Him. Jeesh, what a silly question.

Bob

You have my deepest sympathy. I'll continue to pray for you.

Rev. Johnson

Reverend, I am an atheist, and hearing that you're going to pray for me translates as: "I am going to wish this man to a paradise where he is separated from the people who went to hell and are suffering for eternity, begging my Lord and Master for mercy. Mercy that will never come forth." This is the God you bow to.

And while you picture yourself knelt before this Lord of the Universe groveling at His feet, your brothers and sisters from earth on fire, burning in boiling oceans of blood for the crime of not believing the right story, I ask you- What is the color of your heart? Can it be anything but black if you've a heaven while others choke forever?

This is your belief. You believe in a heaven while others suffer. A bliss that excludes people who have a different view than yourself.

I don't know how an adult manages such a fairy tale.
You need to stop it.
Bob

As I said, we have different beliefs. Yes, I believe not only I but anyone who believes in Jesus as the Son of God and accepts Him as their Savior will go to Heaven, and, I believe non-believers will be condemned to hell. I didn't write the Bible, but I believe every word in it. If this offends you, I'm sorry, but I have to stand on my beliefs. There are a lot of things about organized religion that I disagree with, and I feel too many doctrines have muddied the waters, but I believe the fundamentals of Salvation as given in God's Word. Yes, I have questioned occurrences here in this world, such as war, rape, murder, and child rape and murder especially, and I have questioned God as to why He would let these innocents suffer. I don't profess to know the answers to a lot of questions such as these, but I can say from personal experience that my life here has become immeasurably better since I started believing.

As you well know, many books have been written on this subject, and theologians have discussed them for ages without being able to come up with an answer. However, we run a homeless shelter in Hamilton, AL, and some of the derelicts we see come in here are so sad. We see men who have given up everything, wives, children, jobs, homes, and their self-respect to have drugs and alcohol, but we've seen many of these men turn their lives around when they have professed belief in God. Our first order of business is to get them into a clean room, food in their bellies, clean clothes (many of them come in with just the clothes on their backs). I've found it hard to counsel a hungry man or woman. We don't start out by trying to pound God into them. We start out by working on their self esteem and self worth, letting them know that we care. But we also let them know that the reason we are here is because the God we love and serve also loves them, no matter what they have done or believe. A very wise man who served as our Pastor until his death in 1994 told us of a discussion he had with someone years ago. The man asked him what if there is no God as you believe. Bro Hamric said, "Even if that is true, I have lived a much more satisfying life just by living by the Principles Christ taught." If you research Christ's teaching, and man lived by just this one, ''Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'', this world would be a much better place. We wouldn't have the violence and mayhem we have today.

I hope this clears up my position on this matter.
Your's in Christ,
Bro Larry

Yeah, that's The Golden Rule. Your Bro Hamric recited The Golden Rule to you which isn't unique to the Christian religion. Most every religion or philosophical belief contains The Golden Rule in its teachings in some form or another. So the answer given to that man when he asked "What if there is no God as you believe?" should have been:
"If that is true, and there is indeed no God, then millions and millions of people would have wasted precious hours, days, years trying reason out stacks and stacks of useless scribes, and killing, raping, avenging, torturing, and burning villages to the ground in the name of a fictional character. If it is true that there is no God then the human race has condoned horrific crimes against humanity such as witch burning, slavery, suicide bombings, and genocide with words spoken not by God, but by ignorant, uncivilized, mortal men. Friend, if indeed there is no God, then history has been forged by religious zealots, nations have been divided and wars waged in the name of nothing, children have been taught incorrect life lessons that put faith above logic, fear above question, bible above science, and story book characters above real live people, and countless lifetimes wasted serving a being which doesn't exist. And worst of all, if there is no God and there is indeed only one life for each of us, then a billion of those individual lives have lived never knowing that which is true. A truth which has been repeatedly snuffed out by religious poo-poo heads."

Reverend Larry, you seem to base your core beliefs on the notion that theologians have argued whether or not they're true and there's really no way for us to logically or scientifically figure out answers to things, so you just believe this one, which you think can't be proven wrong, or inaccurate. Of course we both know that your Bible-based beliefs can easily be proven inaccurate, but you still believe them anyhow, now because it contains some usable advice that helps people. C'mon Larry. That's no reason to believe a book to be entirely true! Your book also contains some horrible lessons that don't help at all! Must I list them again?

Rev, you can still teach The Golden Rule to people without God. People who have no idea who your god is, or what "God" is can still understand, believe and practice The Golden Rule. And they can do this without attaching a belief that others will suffer eternally for not believing a dead guy came alive again then flew up to paradise without cable wires and a giant crane. You can still teach The Golden Rule without the apocalyptic premonitions that inspire many to anticipate the destruction of the human race because of the Second Coming of their Saviour that's supposed to follow. In short, you can teach good lessons without separating apart the damned from the blessed, and that is only to our gain if there is indeed no God.
And there isn't.
Uh-doy.

Bob

Bob- I've enjoyed the verbal sparring with you, but on the advice of my mentor, Rev Harris, I choose to end the correspondence with you. I pray you will find another outlet for your talents.

Larry Johnson
larry988@centurytel.net

It was this avoidance of reasonable questions that was the platform for my eventual break from belief. I was a grown man without proper answers to things. I was making great claims to people's faces and avoiding the reasonable questions which followed. Eventually it all caught up to me, and I am thankful it did.

You've been gyped, Larry. You've committed your life to a lie and surrounded yourself with people who believe the same lie. I feel for you and the situation you're in, but it most certainly does not convince me that the God you've been brought up believing in is real, or the book you cling to is magical.

It's depressing to see a grown man stuck in such a predicament, but I'll tell you this Larry, when I dropped all of that Apocalyptic nonsense and opened my eyes to reality it was tough, but worth it, as most tough changes are.

How does it feel having a mentor who instructs you to flee from inquiry?
Anyhow, best wishes,
Bob